Text to Your Heart
by QueenElspeth
Summary: Miranda is lonely - can she find love on a new dating website? Mirandy.
1. A New Identity

A/N This was a silly idea I had that sort of expanded while I was writing. My first ever Mirandy and I promise that I know Andrea's nickname is Andy but I needed to change it to Rhea for this to work. She only uses 'Rhea' online. R&R please! :)  
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It was Friday. Runway had been having a particularly explosive week - it seemed like everything that could go wrong, _would _go wrong. Miranda was considering calling her new assistant Morgan. Or, at least, she would be considering it if she wasn't Miranda Priestly. As it was, Miranda found herself with little to do for the last hour of the day. Unfortunately, this was not because everything had been sorted out but because things had gone so drastically wrong that things had to be fixed by the underlings before she even saw it. The most recent development in the weeks catastrophe was that the whole system had crashed, the book had been completely lost. Luckily, all of the articles, photographs and adverts had been spared so it was up to her employees to fix it in time for delivery that night.

Boredom was not something Miranda was used to. And now that she was experiencing it she couldn't say she welcomed the newfound feeling. She sighed and opened up the internet on her computer. She checked her emails and was about to delete all of her junk mail when one particular piece caught her eye. Checking no one was around, she opened it.

**Tired of First Dates that Lack Any Spark?**

**Try FirstText!**

**This amazing new ****FREE ****website lets you find matches and text them before you have to meet them!**

**Find people you can relate to and swap tales, photos and flirt before that first meeting.**

**79% of our users have found love from FirstText!**

**Let us help you!**

Miranda was actually contemplating signing up when she heard Emily bustling into the outer office, closing the window quickly she called her in. The girl responded instantly - almost knocking over a potted plant in her haste to serve her boss.

"Emily, as I'm sure you are aware I do rather hate being kept out of the loop. Is the incompetence of my staff dealt with yet?" she asked, not elaborating. If Emily didn't know what she meant that was her problem.

"Oh, well, we er… We're getting it fixed, Miranda." Emily began, Miranda held up her hand for silence.

"Will the book be ready tonight?"

"Yes but-"

"That's all."

Emily nodded and, turning on her heel, fled the room. Miranda took a deep breath, at least the week hadn't been a total loss. Her assistant promised her the work could be salvaged. If not, on her head be it. Momentarily distracted, the dating website was pushed from Miranda's mind.

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Andy opened her emails with a sigh. She had had an absolutely, ridiculously exhausting day. Her new job at the Mirror, while less stupidly demanding than Runway was in no way less tiring. She was at the bottom of the gene pool, as it were, so she had a lot of useless 'stories' to deal with. Andy's job meant that she had to follow up every single lead they got, unless it was handed to someone else, and write a story on each. She would choose her best seven stories and pass them on to the editor. He would choose one or two which would actually make it to the press. Not a glamorous position but at least she was writing something.

She noticed a few notifications from FirstText but they were _all _from scary men who made it very obvious what their intentions for her were. She deleted them all with a glare, even when she put her sexual orientation as lesbian they still thought they had a chance! She closed her emails and opened a game of solitaire, she had less than 15 minutes before she could go home for the weekend and she had absolutely nothing to do. Sure, she was pretty menial in this profession but she worked hard and did her job well. Andy felt confident a promotion was on the cards. Life was good. Well… On the work front at least.

David, her boss, took one look at her and told her to go home. He could see she was finished and just itching to leave. She thanked him brightly before dashing out of the door, already planning to ring Lily and Doug and meet up with them. She had a lot more time on her hands since she left Runway and planned to make use of it. They both agreed to see her and the plan was to meet at a favourite haunt of theirs in a two hours. Andy hastened home, she needed to shower and change before showing her face.

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Miranda finally decided it was late enough for her to leave. She left her instructions with the new Emily and made her way briskly out of the doors and into her car. Roy dropped her off at her townhouse and she walked as quickly as possible, while still remaining utterly pristine and Priestly-ish, to the door. The twins were with Greg this weekend so she had the house to herself. Joy. As much as she enfored the Ice Queen façade at work, in all honesty, she could do with someone to come home to every night.

This thought reminded Miranda of FirstText and she decided to go on her computer and give it another look. After re-reading the ad, and throwing caution to the wind, Miranda decided to sign up. She clicked the link and was brought to the register page. The first page was predictable, name, age, number, eye colour, hair colour, body shape and marital status. Miranda filled them in, hesitating before typing in her number. She did however, tell one small lie. Miranda Priestly was a world famous fashion icon, she couldn't very well type in her name on a dating site where anyone could read it now could she? After some deliberation, Miranda came up with a name she was sure no one could relate to her - Susan Dent. It was simple and wouldn't draw too much attention.

The second page was slightly more detailed. There were boxes for her to type her own responses to the questions.

**Question One: What is your favourite book and why?**

_My favourite book is probably Orlando by Virginia Woolf. I like the fact that the protagonist has money, power and women but all he really wants is love and poetry. Probably the only two things you cannot buy or influence with power._

**Question Two: What do you like to do in your free time?**

_My free time is often spent with my daughters, whom I love very much, but when I am alone, I don't think anything can beat curling up in an armchair with a book and music playing._

**Question Three: What is your idea of a romantic gesture?**

_I cannot say I've thought about it much but… I think it more depends on the thought behind the gesture than the gesture itself. For instance, you could buy someone a rose simply because you want them to think something of you - that isn't very romantic. However, drawing someone a bath because you know they have had a stressful day and you want to make them feel better; that's romantic._

**Finally, Question 4: Tell us a little about yourself.**

_Well, as you know, I'm 51, 5'6, single and have two daughters. I love them with all my heart and, though it pains me to admit it, I don't give them enough attention. I work very had and have a good job. I have been single for a while now and I'm not really sure what I'm looking for but I'm open to suggestions. I can be a little tactless sometimes and this is all new to me but I think this is a good idea for me._

When Miranda had answered everything she saved her application and closed the window. Signing up was one thing, but Miranda wouldn't go looking for someone. They would have to come to her. Her pride insisted on that much. Thinking about what she had written, Miranda was a little embarrassed. She thought she had made herself sound very strange and quite unappealing. 51 with white hair and kids sounds so sterile when written down like that. Going downstairs, Miranda decided it was time for some food. She made herself a simple meal, wondering how many people would be surprised that she actually knew how to work the stove, and sat down with a book to read once she had finished eating.

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Once again, Andy had excelled in getting ready way too early. This was a practice she had picked up when she left Runway - no longer needing to look absolutely pristine all the time and always having to be fifteen minutes early was not something you could easily drop the habit of. With plenty of time to spare, Andy signed on her computer. She went on FirstText, promising herself she would only be on for a couple of seconds. She hadn't found anyone interesting yet so she sometimes wondered why she still bothered. Having trawled through most of the backlog when she was bored, Andy only intended to look at the new users and see if anyone piqued her interest.

Boring, boring, scary, boring, unintelligent, boring, self-satisfied, boring, boring, boring… _Wait._

Andy stopped flicking through profiles when she came across one that was different to any she had seen before. It wasn't just the lack of desperation and bad spelling that grabbed her - this person seemed to have an IQ over 100 and held at least one independent thought in her head! Andy read the woman's profile with increasing excitement.

She sounded interesting. Unusual and interesting. Maybe now was the time to actually make contact with someone from the site! All those days of fruitless searching… Could this be her lucky break? Berating herself for getting over excited, Andy grabbed her phone and punched in the number. Looking over the profile she saw that the woman hadn't filled in her orientation. Taking a deep breath, Andy took the plunge and messaged her.

_Hi, my name is Rhea. I got your number from FT.  
__I sent you an online message with a link to my profile.  
__R U interested?  
__X_

Andy felt her heart beat faster when she pressed the 'send' button. There was just something so exciting about messaging someone you didn't know! Reading her profile didn't mean she knew anything about her, not really.

This woman could be anybody. Anybody with the name Susan Dent, anyway.

Just like Rhea S could be anyone. Just because her friends called her Andy didn't mean she was going to use that online. She felt it gave the wrong impression. Rhea was much better.

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Miranda was deeply absorbed in her book when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Expecting a text from one of her daughters, Miranda immediately opened the message. What she found was something very different. A text from someone on FirstText! She couldn't believe it had worked so fast. Her book completely forgotten, Miranda got up and went to her computer. True enough, there was an alert from FirstText saying someone had messaged her. She followed the links until she got to Rhea's profile. She seemed… Nice. Interesting and her humour shone through even online. There was one small hiccup. Miranda Priestly wasn't gay. She had married two men for a reason, success and heterosexuality went hand in hand in Miranda's world, for her at least. And anyway, she had _never _thought about a woman like that and she was confronted with beautiful women all the time! She ought to delete this woman's message immediately and delete her account on FirstText.

But…

Miranda bit her lip indecisively, something she never did. True, she was straight, but surely talking to someone who had been a member for some time would help her get her head around the site. She could politely decline the woman's advances later. Ok, gameplan: talk to Rhea and get used to this whole text-dating saga. After that she could say that she didn't feel her and Rhea had that 'spark'. Yes, that would work. Picking up her phone, Miranda text back.

_Hi Rhea, I am interested.  
__I'm new to the site though so I don't really know what happens now.  
__xx_

By the time Miranda had made up her mind to contact Andy, she was out with her friends. She heard her message alert tone over the dull chatter of the restaurant and delved into her bag to see who was contacting her. She smiled when she saw that Susan had replied to her message and actually wanted to talk to her. Excusing herself, Andy went to the bathroom to text back.

_Well usually 'how are you' is the follow up to 'hello' in conversation!  
__Don't worry, I'm sort of new too -  
__I've been a member for a while but I've never actually contacted anyone before.  
__X_

Once the message had been sent, Andy returned to her friends. Doug was in the middle of a full description of his latest boyfriend - the Canadian. Lily and Andy insisted on these names for Doug's boyfriends because it just made it easier to follow. The only trouble would be if Doug got another Canadian boyfriend, what would they call that one? Pushing the thought from her mind, Andy joined in the conversation, checking her phone every few seconds for a reply.

Miranda opened the text eagerly, her stocking clad feet curled under her body as she sat in her favourite arm chair. She grinned at the message, once again Rhea's humour came through in a few words. Sipping a glass of wine, Miranda thought up a decent (or so she hoped) reply.

_How are you? (Happy now?!)  
__I feel honoured that I was interesting enough for you to actually talk. ;)  
__xx_

Andy barely concealed a broad grin when she heard the tinkle of her phone - another text! She whipped her phone out of her pocket and read it with a smile. Lily rolled her eyes at her, the look on her face was ridiculous.

_I'm very well thank you hun.  
__How are you?  
__Notice how the dialogue is flowing!  
__& yes, I think you seem very interesting.  
__X_

Feeling the night wasted now that Andy had her new text-friend, the three called it a night and Andy went home for what she hoped would be a few hours solid texting. Miranda was already deeply immersed in her text-date and so didn't notice when Emily fell loudly and crushed her dry cleaning in the hallway downstairs.

_I'm ok thanks. Tired though - rough day.  
__I think you sound interesting too though I'd like to know more.  
__What do you do?  
__xx_

_I'm a budding journalist seeking my fame and fortune in the big city  
__How about you? You must be high powered if you feel you can safely complain about 'rough days'  
__Go on, make me feel insignificant!  
__X_

_Haha! Well you asked for it!  
__I'm so high powered I don't have to do anything.  
__People do it for me but I still get paid.  
__No, I do work sometimes. Honest.  
__xx_

_Ha! Whatever you say ;)  
__Still, must be lonely all the way up that ladder.  
__Shame too, I bet you're absolutely gorgeous!  
__X_

Andy added the last line of text feeling a surge of bravery. It was a dating website after all! She was expected to flirt! Susan seemed to have a great sense of humour, she wanted to meet up or swap pictures or whatever the reasonable next step was but she didn't want to push it. Sure, she liked Susan but she had no way of knowing she felt the same. And at the end of the day - it was a few texts.

_Not as gorgeous as the un-stressed underdog I'm sure.  
__:P  
__Anyway, I've gotta go now.  
__Talk to you later?  
__xx_

Miranda had looked at the time and realised the book would definitely be there by now. If not, someone's head was for the chopping block. For once she was glad texting was voiceless, otherwise Rhea would have heard the note of hopefulness in her question. Miranda really wanted them to talk later. And she had kind of flirted with her! She had no idea what she looked like and she had called her gorgeous simply because she wanted to make her smile. What on earth was she doing?

_Goodnight doll.  
__I'll speak to you tomorrow.  
__X_

With a smile, Andy switched off her phone and got into bed. She had made good progress with Susan in one day, who knows what tomorrow would bring? She couldn't help the feeling of hope that bubbled up inside of her and didn't go away as she drifted off to sleep.


	2. Walk In the Park

**Yes, I know this is a very short chapter after a long delay but I really couldn't think how to continue this. And I do love a cliffhanger. I've already started writing the next chapter, never fear!**

At 10 am the next morning, Andy felt she had given Susan sufficient time to wake up.

_Good morning gorgeous_

_How was your beauty sleep?_

_X_

Miranda had, obviously, been awake for a few hours. She was currently finishing her annotations on the book and as such didn't see that she had a text. When she finally finished her work, at half past 11, she checked her phone. She grinned at the message but actually felt guilty for not texting back sooner, which was of course, ridiculous.

_Morning sweetie_

_It was fine,_

_Sorry I took so long to reply, I was working._

_Sleep well?_

_xx_

Andy had been nursing her fourth cup of coffee when her phone went off. She smiled when she saw that it was Susan and immediately began to reply.

_Same as always, still need a full jug of coffee to keep my eyes open!_

_I know this is a little sudden but…_

_It's a beautiful day._

_Do you want to meet at the park?_

_X_

Andy knew very well she was rushing things but how far could you go with texting? She really wanted to meet Susan in person. She hoped she hadn't scared her off.

After two hours, Susan still hadn't replied. Andy was starting to feel disappointed that she had ruined things when they had seemed to be going so well. Needing some air, she went to the park anyway. She sat down on a bench and lit a cigarette when she got a text. It was Susan!

_Hi hi, sorry!_

_I was talking to my daughters._

_I have to admit I'm a little nervous_

_But I would love to meet you._

_I'll be at the park in about 15 minutes._

_xx_

Andy grinned at the message, feeling a lot better than she had a few seconds ago. She waited in the park, feeling like nothing could go wrong.

Twenty minutes later, she didn't see anyone who looked like they could be Susan but she did see someone a lot worse. What was _Miranda_ doing here? And why did she have to choose today to fancy some fresh air? Andy almost leapt off the bench to hide when she calmed down. Miranda wasn't her boss anymore. If she found out that her ex-assistant was gay… well, so what? Not that it looked like she would be finding out anytime soon. Where on earth was Susan?

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Miranda was incensed. Where on earth was Rhea? She felt very embarrassed to have dragged herself to the park and be stood up by some cow who had probably never seen the amount of money Miranda made in a week before!

As she walked around the park in her brisk, no-nonsense manner, she came across someone she had never expected to see again. Andrea. She must live nearby, she supposed. Feeling dejected by Rhea, Miranda decided (against her better judgement) to strike up a conversation with Andrea.

Silently, she walked over to the bench currently occupied by Andrea and sat down next to her. She didn't say anything but Miranda knew that Andrea had acknowledged her.

"Nice day for a walk," she said, awkwardly. She certainly wasn't used to small talk. Andy stared at her, momentarily speechless by Miranda actually opening a conversation with her.

"Uhh… Yeah. Actually, I was just waiting for someone," Andy said, regaining her usual friendliness and openness. Miranda didn't say anything, she was deliberating whether Andy had just politely told her to go away or not. While she was thinking she heard Andy mutter something under her breath.

"Come on, Susan, where are you?"

"Did you just say… Susan?" Miranda asked, trying to remain as calm as possible while her heart was beating at a thousand miles an hour.

"What? Oh, yeah, Susan Dent," Andy replied, noticing the peculiar expression on Miranda's face she continued. "Why, do you know her?"

"… No." 


End file.
